


Somewhere Deep Inside Of These Bones

by Sylphidine_Gallimaufry



Series: Tales of Nightmare Dork University [3]
Category: Guardians of Childhood & Related Fandoms, Nightmare Dork University - Fandom, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Brunhilde has your number Piki, Brunhilde the boneless wonder cat, Halloween, M/M, NDU - Freeform, NDU Stagefright, Nightmare Before Christmas References, Nightmare Dork University, Piki can actually sing well, Proto will collect on Piki's debt you can bet on it, mentions of the Anti-Jack, the play's the thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 13:12:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8447218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylphidine_Gallimaufry/pseuds/Sylphidine_Gallimaufry
Summary: Piki cluelessly does the right thing for Jack for ENTIRELY the wrong reasons.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [notastranger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/notastranger/gifts).



> If you are wondering what the devil Nightmare Dork University is, and what it has to do with either the movie RISE OF THE GUARDIANS or the GUARDIANS OF CHILDHOOD books by William Joyce, please visit [the NDU 101 page](http://nightmaredorkarchive.tumblr.com/NDU101) on Tumblr and its accompanying tags. It's a wild and woolly ride involving four different versions of Pitch Black and a very different version of Jack Frost, all of whom either room together or "fraternize" in a college / university AU. And let's not forget a taxidermied ferret named Mr. Pickles.

The front door buzzer sounded at 3pm over the intercom in Piki’s flat; he nearly tripped over his own feet in his rush to buzz Jack in.  He cast a quick glance behind him, to make sure Brunhilde was still asleep in her sunny spot on the window seat, before opening the apartment door and waiting for Jack to round the curve of the staircase to the second floor.    


Now *that* was an unfamiliar expression to see on Jack’s face; Piki thought he knew all Jack’s reactions intimately.  Shy, sweet, nervous, enthused, sleepy… but this… smouldering rage?  It did not sit well with the playwright, and he was mentally cataloguing the ways he could commit justified mayhem on the person who had made his dear one angry.

But, he reflected, justified mayhem could be VERY time-consuming, and that would mean time spent away from Jack.  So, with a silent sigh of regret, Piki turned his attention towards getting to the root cause of his beloved’s distress.

“Jack?” he inquired softly as he waved the young blond man into his living room.  “What’s wrong?”

The angry look faded into an almost sheepish smile.  “It’s n-n-nothing, really, Piki.  My cousin was supposed to have met me after class to help me with a project, but he never… he never showed up.”  Jack sat down gingerly next to Brunhilde, buried his chin in his chest, and started to run his hand over the recumbent Siamese cat’s back, The stroking action seemed to require all his attention, almost as if he did not want to look his boyfriend in the eye.

Piki tried not to visibly shudder at the mention of the Anti-Jack, and instead concentrated on the rest of what Jack had said.   He lowered himself into the armchair across from the window seat… near enough to be supportive but not so near as to be intimidating.  He queried gently, “What kind of project, if I may ask?”

A few moments passed before Jack blurted out, words tumbling over one another too quickly for his stutter to catch up, “We-used-to-act-out-Nightmare-Before-Christmas-when-we-were-kids-and-I-wanted-to-do-it-as-a-skit-for-my-education-class…”

Piki nodded in what he hoped was a reassuring manner, his own mind racing again towards thoughts of revenge against the one who’d let his darling down.  He snapped back to attention as he heard the desperation and, yes, actual _anger_ in Jack’s voice, words coming out more slowly and softly, but still rushed.  


“…but now he’s always hanging out with that p-professor and the project is due next week and I still have my Zero costume and I need someone to be the Pumpkin King - “

Realization dawned.  In one fluid sequence of motions, Piki bounded off his chair, knelt before the startled young man on the window seat and enfolded him in his bony arms.  He murmured soothingly, “Stop, Jack, hush, of course I’ll help you, of course I’ll be your Pumpkin King…”

Brunhilde lazily lifted her head at the interruption to her petting, and flopped resignedly back into sleep.

And that was how Piki found himself, five days later, dressed in a snazzy pinstriped black suit with a bow tie shaped like a bat, his head encased in a mask, in a brightly lit classroom in front of twenty-five small humans who were fascinated by his long spidery hands and the way he could throw his voice as he sang “Jack’s Lament” for them..

He did not want to even CONTEMPLATE what Proto would demand as recompense for helping with his costume, nor did he want to remember Proto’s silent smile when Piki was foolish enough to ask where the costume had come from at such short notice.  


The sweet timid smiles that Jack-dressed-as-Zero kept shooting at him during the skit were reward enough.  


**Author's Note:**

> [Fanart for this story](http://mira-eyeteeth.tumblr.com/post/152573524961/a-commission-done-by-morbidlizard-jack-and-piki) drawn by MorbidLizard on Tumblr.


End file.
